Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Interview with Lily Grey

Creator of the Castle Cake at Cake International

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I was brought up in
Mumbai - India, although born in UK. I have lived here since 1976. I am blessed with three wonderful loving
and caring children, a very supportive mother and my sister and my dear friend
Claire. I am also grateful to my tutors Geraldine Dahlke and Jane Hatton.

When did you start cake decorating?

I first started making
cakes for my children’s birthdays. My oldest son, Adrian is now 26 years old.
My very first novelty cake was Postman Pat which was my second son, Ross
favourite TV character. With
practice, experience and attending cake decorating courses over the years, I
have gone on to win few awards at various cake decorating competitions. Having
said that, Adrian thinks my Doll cake made for my daughter, Chloe’s birthday by
was the best cake ever made. It was her 1st birthday cake made by
sticking lots of sweets all over her skirt. Lol.

Cake orders can be quite erratic at times. With the current recession, not
everyone wants to pay a decent price for their cakes. I find it hard to compete
against supermarket cakes.

What inspired you to do the castle cake, why
this design in particular?

The Medieval wedding
castle cake was done as part of my ABC advanced cake decoration course at
Brooklands College. Part of the coursework was making a model of a couple.

The inspiration for
this design came from a brilliant illustrator - Trina Schart Hyman, done in a
book titled ‘St George and the dragon’ retold by Margaret Hodges. I absolutely
adore the drawing of the medieval couple. Looking through the pages, she had
also drawn a castle in the distance. My tutor, Jane Hatton suggested that I
could do something similar as the wedding cake. When the dummies arrived, I
realised to my dismay that the couple would have to be very tiny as they would
have to be able to get through the main entrance!

How long did it take?

This project was
supposed to have been started around Christmas and finished in time for Salon
Culinaire exhibition end of March. Sadly, I didn’t finish in time to enter my
cake. I am going through a traumatic divorce right now. The idea of making a
wedding cake was not at all appealing. I would prefer to have made a divorce
cake instead. I have been going through betrayal, loneliness and sadness. I hated the sight of my unfinished
wedding cake. Eventually it took me 2 months to finish it.

What was the hardest part of the cake?

Getting it started.
The castle sat on the table at the end of my bed. I slept and woke up looking
at it each day. I faced a nightmare from which I would never wake up.....
Unless I forced myself to finish this project. This was helped when I stopped thinking of this cake as a
wedding cake. Once I thought I was making a medieval castle cake, there was no
stopping me. I wanted to add so much more, like few peasants sitting on the
lawn outside the castle looking up at the couple and despite their poverty
cheering them on. But I ran out of time.

How did you create the stone walls? Was it
literally piece by piece?

That was my mad
brainstorm. I wanted the castle to look authentic having looked at several medieval
castle pictures. I always take on
these tasks, not realising the enormity of it all!

I rolled a small
section of sugarpaste each time and cut it in an irregular pattern. Each cut
out piece was then stuck on with damp darker shade of old gold. I had tried
rolling small stones and sticking them together to see the overall effect. I
also tried cutting rectangular pieces and texturing It., I realised, the stone
work whatever shape or size had to be quite small. This kept all the characters
and the size of the castle in proportion.

Halfway through the
bottom tier, I realised the mammoth task facing me. Ultimately, I managed to
finish all the stonework. I stacked the cakes together when to my horror, I
realised I had used old gold on the bottom tier but for the rest two tiers, I
had used chestnut brown food colouring. The tiers did not match. I scrapped off
both the top tiers and started again L

The divorce,
coursework, my part-time job and this back breaking task (not to forget, my
bottom got very sore) was enough to shove the cake in a corner to be ignored
for a few weeks. I missed my deadline. My tutor was very understanding and
patient. She was happy for me to ditch the cake and start on something else or
take my time and enter my cake for the Cake exhibition at Excel in April.

What did you enjoy making the most?

I think it was the
characters on the cake, the king, the queen and all the jesters. I enjoyed
trying to make all the characters as individuals with their own personalities. I usually try to get my cake to tell a
story, which I narrate to my daughter who always laugh at my silly stories. I
would love people to stop and dream up a story themselves of what is happening
in my cake world. Although, I really admire cakes with beautiful flowers and
artwork, I tend to lean more towards novelty cakes showing movement, action and
emotions. My tutor told me the other day, that I was the only student she had
ever taught who displayed so much emotions on her cakes.

This is a colourful
cake, but I started off doing dark pieces as I am going through a very dark
period right now. The first project
was a black and white collage. The next project was supposed to be a model of a
fairy. I did a model of an angel of death, with tied and wing clipped angels to
signify that sometimes evil can and does often triumph. My final piece is a marzipan angry
gorilla with open blood stained mouth! I have also done an African pastillage scene
showing music and happiness in amidst desolation. This was inspired by a
children’s book – ‘We all went on Safari’ illustrations by Julia Cairns.

How much research did you do into getting the
cake just right?

I work in a library,
so I have access to many books. I find children’s books most inspiring
especially as they contain beautiful illustrations done by very talented
artists.

I borrowed over 25
books on Medieval/Middle ages, castles and heraldry. I studied the costumes,
musical instruments and entertainments during that period. The ladies wore some
beautiful headdresses and gowns. I find myself fascinated by that era in our
history.

What really is happening in the top window?

The top window shows a
lord and a lady. The lady is sitting on the ledge trying to get a good view of the
young couple at the top of the castle. There is no danger of her falling off
the castle as the window is quite low with a balcony/ledge. Lol.

There are hidden
innuendos to various characters if you look closely. The jesters are placed at
the top of the castle to signify that some marriages can be a joke. I am sure you
can guess who the prisoner is looking out of the barred window! The young groom
is not exactly facing the bride and so on. Do make up the story as you look at
the cake. I did try to put some positive aspects to my castle characters. There
is a courting couple, kids cheering and a baby to signify life and happiness,
the adoring young queen looking at her rather elderly king. Now, I wonder what
happened to his previous wife or should I say wives.....

What is your top baking tip?

A firm Madeira cake is
the best for making novelty cakes, but do warn your customers that it will be a
firm cake not a soft spongy Genoese cake which they all expect!

What would be one of your top decorating tips?

If at first you don’t
succeed, try and try again. I am not naturally artistic so I often need to make
several attempts to get that perfection which is required for a competition
cake. It is also helpful to take breaks in between rather than struggling for
too long. Stand back and look at your cake. Also, ask your children what they
think. They can be refreshingly honest about what exactly is wrong with your
creations. I respect positive criticism :)

Thanks Lily for being so open, it was lovely to get to know you and hear your story.